Louisville Cardinals

Varsity teams

Louisville competes in 21 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis and track & field; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, field hockey, golf, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field and volleyball.

Baseball

Team Established: 1909

All Time Record: 2,113–1,624–11

Playing Facility: Jim Patterson Stadium (2005)

Head Coach: Dan McDonnell

NCAA Tournament Appearances: 15

Last NCAA Appearance: 2025

College World Series Appearances: 5 (2007, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2019, 2025)

Super Regional Appearances: 8 (2007, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2025)

Conference Titles: 10

Conference Tournament Titles: 2

Drafted Players: 105 (as of 2025)

Players In The MLB system: 24 (as of 2025)

The Louisville Cardinals baseball team was established in 1909. The program made its first NCAA tournament appearance in 2002 under Coach Lelo Prado.

In 2007, Louisville hired Dan McDonnell who immediately brought the program success. In his first season, the Cardinals won the first NCAA tournament game in program history, won an NCAA Regional, hosted its first Louisville Super Regional, and made its first College World Series appearance.

In Coach McDonnell's 19 seasons, Louisville has won two conference tournament championships, nine regular season conference championships, reached the NCAA tournament 15 times, won 10 NCAA regionals, and made six College World Series appearances.

The 2006 Baseball Cardinals broke the Big East Conference Tournament record with a .409 batting average.

Men's basketball

Team Established: 1911

All Time Record: 1,825–915 (66.6%)

Playing Facility: KFC Yum! Center (2010)

Court: Denny Crum Court (2007)

Head Coach:

NCAA Men's Basketball Championships: 2 (1980, 1986, 2013*)

NCAA Final Fours: 10

NCAA tournament Appearances: 43

Last NCAA Tournament Appearance: 2019

Conference regular season Championships: 23 (7 Missouri Valley Conference, 12 Metro Conference, 1 Conference USA, 2 Big East, 1 American Athletic Conference)

Conference Tournament Champions: 19 (2 Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, 11 Metro Conference, 2 Conference USA, 3 Big East, 1 American Athletic Conference)

NIT Appearances: 15 (Won 1956 NIT Championship)

All-Americans: 21

Drafted Players: 70

Players In The NBA: 6 (Gorgui Dieng, Montrezl Harrell, Damion Lee, Donovan Mitchell, Terry Rozier, Ray Spalding)

Louisville's basketball tradition was established by Muhlenberg County native, Coach Bernard "Peck" Hickman. The Cards never had a losing season in Hickman's 23 years, prior to his arrival the team had only had 11 winning seasons. In 1956, Hickman's team won the NIT, then considered a national championship on a par with the NCAA tournament. After retiring, Hickman became the school's Athletics Director and hired then John Wooden assistant and future Hall of Famer Denny Crum, who led the team to two NCAA Division I basketball championships (1980 and 1986) and six Final Fours. The men's basketball team currently ranks fifth in all-time NCAA tournament wins and has been in the top-five in average attendance each year since the 1982–83 season. Perennial rivals include the University of Kentucky, University of Cincinnati, and the University of Memphis.

Women's basketball

The team was established in 1975.

All Time Record : 876–491 (64.1%)

Playing facility: KFC Yum! Center (2010)

Head coach: Jeff Walz (401–108 in fifteen seasons)

Conference titles: 10 (1983–84, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1996–97, 1998–99, 2000–01, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21)

Conference Tournament titles: 8 (1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1993, 2018)

NCAA appearances: 24

Last NCAA appearance: 2022

All-Americans: 6

Drafted players: 19 (including 2009 #1 pick Angel McCoughtry 2014 first-rounder Shoni Schimmel and 2019 #2 pick Asia Durr)

Final Four appearances: 4 (2009,2013,2018,2022)

Cheerleading

The cheerleading squads have won multiple championships with the large co-ed squad coached by James Speed winning 18 National Cheerleaders Association Collegiate National championships (1985–86, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998–99, 2003–09, 2011, 2016, 2018), the all-girl squad coached by Misty Hodges winning 18 championships (2001–05, 2007–09, 2011–12, 2014–2019, no competition 2020, 2021–22) and the small co-ed cheerleading squad winning 12 championships (2005–06, 2008–09, 2011, 2013–17, 2021–22). The University of Louisville Spirit Groups hold more national titles than any other sport offered at the university.

The Cardinal Bird Mascot also falls under the jurisdiction of the University of Louisville Spirit Groups. The "Bird" also competes with the cheerleaders in national competitions and makes regular appearances in the Louisville Metro Area.

Cross country

2006: Finished 15th at NCAA Championships

2007: Finished 9th at NCAA Championships

Conference titles: 2 (2007, 2013)

Conference titles: 1 (1996)

Field hockey

Team Established: 1927

All Time Record: 334–373–16 (.462)

Fall 2016 record: 15–6

Playing Facility: Trager Stadium (2000)

Head Coach: Justine Sowry

Conference Titles: 6 (2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2013)

Conference Tournament Titles: 4 (1977, 1978, 2003, 2004)

NCAA Appearances: 6

Last NCAA Appearance: 2016

All-Americans: 7

The Louisville women's field hockey team received the NFHCA Division I National Academic Team Award for their 3.65 GPA, which was the highest in the nation. The team also won two MAC tourney titles in 2003 and 2004 and finished one game back in their first Big East season. Between 2015 and 2017 Ayeisha McFerran was named three times as an NFHCA All-American while playing for the women's field hockey team. She was also a member of the Ireland team that played in the 2018 Women's Hockey World Cup final and was named Goalkeeper of the Tournament.

Football

Team Established: 1912

All Time Record: 568–504–17 (.529)

2025 record: 9–4

Playing Facility: L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium (1998)

Head Coach: Jeff Brohm

Conference titles: 9

Bowl appearances: 28

Last bowl appearance: 2025

All-Americans: 29

Drafted players: 169

Players in the NFL: 34

Heisman Trophy winners: 1

Under the guidance of head coaches John L. Smith (1998–2002) and Bobby Petrino (2003–2007), the Louisville football program went to nine consecutive bowl games, a streak that ended in the 2007 season. After a three-year hiatus under Coach Kragthorpe from 2007 to 2009 Louisville has been to eight consecutive bowl games under Coaches Charlie Strong and Bobby Petrino.

Under Coach Smith, the Cardinals spent 11 weeks in the AP Top 25, including a #17 final finish in 2000.

Under Coach Petrino, the Cardinals were ranked in all but three of the weekly AP polls since the beginning of the 2004 season. This includes a #6 final finish in both 2004 and 2006, as well as a #19 final finish in 2005.

In the 2004 season, the Cardinals went 11–1 and won the Conference USA Championship; their only loss was against third-ranked Miami, a game in which the Cardinals led by 17 in the third quarter before falling. The Cardinals went to the Liberty Bowl, where they defeated #10-ranked and previously undefeated Boise State.

Golf

Distinguished amateur and now professional golfer Derek Fathauer enjoyed four solid seasons at Louisville as a Cardinal. He was the first player ever from the University of Louisville to be named an All-American.

Lacrosse

Team Established: 2008

All Time Record: 83–54 (.606)

Spring 2015 record: 10–8

Playing Facility: UofL Lacrosse Stadium (2006)

Head Coach: Scott Teeter

Rowing

Louisville is one of two universities in the state of Kentucky to have a women's rowing team, the other being Murray State University.

Conference Titles: 3 (2009, 2011, 2014)

Soccer

Team Established: 1985

All Time Record: 221–293–38 (.400)

Fall 2018 record: 12–7–0

Playing Facility: Dr. Mark & Cindy Lynn Stadium (5300)

Head Coach: Karen Ferguson-Dayes

Conference Titles: 1 (2011)

All Americans: 1

Team Established: 1979

All Time Record: 309–342–77 (.421)

Playing Facility: Dr. Mark & Cindy Lynn Stadium (5300)

Head Coach: John Michael Hayden

Conference Titles: 4

Conference Tournament Titles: 4

NCAA Tournament Appearances : 10

Elite Eights : 3

College Cup Appearances: 1 (2010)

2010 National Runners Up

Louisville Finishes Historic Season as NCAA Runner-Up

The top-ranked Louisville men's soccer team fell 1–0 to Akron in the 2010 NCAA national championship game in front of 9,672 in Santa Barbara, Calif. The Cardinals, who appeared in the College Cup for the first time in program history, finished the season with a 20–1–3 overall record. Prior to reaching the NCAA Tournament, Louisville won the BIG EAST Red Division regular-season title and captured the BIG EAST Tournament title.

Softball

Team Established: 2000

All time record: 685–351 (.663)

Playing Facility: Ulmer Stadium (2000; Capacity: 2,200)

Head Coach: Holly Aprile

Conference championships: 4 (2004, 2006, 2012, 2014)

Conference Tournament championships: 2 (2007, 2012)

NCAA Tournament Appearances: 15

Last NCAA Appearance: 2019

All-Americans: 8

Swimming

Louisville men's swimming freshman record times as of March 2, 2022, include Abdelrahman Sameh in the 50 freestyle (19.31 in 2020), Murilo Sartori in the 100 freestyle (42.18 in 2022) and 200 freestyle (1:32.38 in 2022), and Daniel Sos in the 200 individual medley (1:43.40 in 2018). Olympians Denis Loktev (Israel) and Denis Petrashov (Kyrgyzstan) have also competed for the team.

Tennis

Men's :

Coach- Rodrigo Da Silva

Established- 1980

Record- 576–401

Conference Championships- 5 (2000, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012)

NCAA appearances – 7 – most recent (08-09)

Volleyball

Team Established: 1975

All Time Record: 900–446 (.663)

Playing Facility: KFC Yum! Center (opened 2010, first used 2011); L&N Federal Credit Union Arena (1990)

Record at KFC Yum! Center: 17–7

Record at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena: 157–19

Head Coach: Dan Meske

Conference Titles: 23 (1982, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2020, 2021, 2022)

Conference Tournament Titles: 10 (1998, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015)

NCAA Tournament Appearances: 27

National runner-up: 2022, 2024

Final Four: 2021, 2022, 2024

Regional Finals: 2019, 2021, 2022, 2024

Last NCAA Appearance: 2024

All-Americans: 27

Volleyball has traditionally been one of Louisville's most successful programs, led for 15 years by head coach Leonid Yelin, whose .772 career winning percentage ranked 9th among active coaches prior to his retirement after the 2010 season. He was replaced by former Louisville player Anne Kordes, who had spent the previous seven seasons as head coach at Saint Louis. During the 2005 season, Louisville was ranked as high as #6 en route to a 30–3 record, a regular season tie for the Big East title, and a second straight trip to the Sweet 16. In the most recent 2012 season, the team averaged 2,341 fans while playing mainly at the KFC Yum! Center. Their traditional home of Cardinal Arena, with 840 seats, has become too small for the team's current popularity, with fans turned away at several games. While Louisville has sought state funding to expand Cardinal Arena to better meet fan demands and prevent unsafe "standing room only" crowds, it has more recently opted to move full-time into the KFC Yum! Center; of its 19 home matches in the 2012 season, 15 were scheduled for that facility. Louisville also hosted both the 2005 Big East Volleyball tournament and the first two rounds of NCAA volleyball tournament at the Kentucky International Expo Center in Downtown Louisville, and hosted the Women's Final Four in 2012 and 2024 at the KFC Yum! Center.

Ladybirds

The University of Louisville Ladybirds dance team has won 20 national titles. The Ladybirds have won nine of the last ten national competitions, including the last four years, in the National Cheerleading Association Championships in Daytona Beach, Fla. The Ladybirds also added the 2014, 2016, 2017 Hip Hop national title to their trophy case. In the years 2016–18 the Ladybirds won a double title, placing first in both the team performance and hip hop categories. Louisville won the Universal Dance Association title in 1995 and 1997. The Ladybirds have long been successful, placing in the top five in their national competition 21 of the last 27 years. The group is under the direction of Sheryl Knight.

Championships

NCAA team championships

Louisville has won three NCAA team national championships, although the third win in 2013 was vacated by the NCAA.

Men's (3)

Basketball (3): 1980, 1986, 2013 (vacated)

see also:

ACC NCAA team championships

List of NCAA schools with the most NCAA Division I championships

Other team championships

Men's (2)

National Invitation Tournament Basketball (1): 1956

National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball Basketball (1): 1948

Notable non-varsity sports

Ice hockey

The University of Louisville Ice Hockey team was founded in 1995. The University of Louisville Hockey team is a club sport, participating in the Southeast Conference in Division II of the American Collegiate Hockey Association and also the TSCHL. Louisville has 3 back to back TSCHL championships in 2015, 2016, and 2017. They also have 2 ACHA Southeast Regional Appearances (2016, 2017). Recent success can be contributed to recent additions such as coach Brian Graham, who is a two time TSCHL Coach of the Year (2015, 2016), and captain Yannis Soukas, who is the Cardinals' all-time leader in points, winner of the 2016 TSCHL MVP Award, 2016 TSCHL Rookie of the Year Award, and was named to the 1st team All-Conference in 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Rugby

The University of Louisville Rugby Club was re-founded in 2009, and was promoted to Division II of college rugby in 2011. Louisville Rugby is led by head coach Eric Raney.

Louisville Rugby has an active recruiting program, yielding recruits from Kentucky high school rugby all stars. Louisville offers scholarships and grants, funded by the Louisville Rugby Old Boys' Association, to incoming rugby recruits.

Director's Cup

The University of Louisville has risen from 174th in the Director's Cup standings in 1999–2000 to 28th in 2006–07. Louisville finished the 2015–16 year ranked 29th in the NACDA Learfield Sports Directors' Cup.

Sport facilities

Fan support

Attendance ranks are based on average per home game.

In 2005, Louisville was among only a handful of schools to average better than 97 percent attendance to capacity in volleyball, men's basketball, and football.

Radio affiliates

The broadcast team for Louisville men's basketball is Paul Rogers (play-by-play) and Bob Valvano or Doug Ormay (color analyst). The broadcast team for Louisville football is Paul Rogers (play-by-play); Craig Swabek (color analyst) and Doug Ormay (sideline reporter).

Louisville games are broadcast in Lexington KY on WWRW 105.5 FM and WKRD 790 AM & 101.7- Louisville, KY (Flagship Station)

For Women's basketball, Women's Play by play is provided by Jim Kelch, with Adrienne Johnson as the color analyst. All Women's Basketball games are heard on WKRD 790 AM or on FM 101.7 in Louisville.

SIRIUS Satellite Radio Louisville broadcasts

SIRIUS Satellite Radio, Nelligan Sports Marketing, the University of Louisville and CSTV: College Sports Television announced an agreement on January 10, 2005, making SIRIUS the Official Satellite Radio Partner of the University of Louisville. SIRIUS will broadcast select play-by-play sports of Louisville's nationally ranked college basketball and football teams

2011 U of L Football Games on Sirius Satellite Radio

2011–12 U of L Men's

Rivalries

Kentucky Wildcats

The Louisville Cardinals rivalry with the Kentucky Wildcats is widely considered one of the most intense college rivalries in the United States. The men's basketball game is called the Battle for the Bluegrass; the football game is officially called the Governor's Cup.

In the early years after the rivalry resumed whoever would win the football game would go on to lose the basketball game. In 2003 Louisville broke that tradition by winning both the football and basketball game and did so again in 2012 and 2025. Kentucky has completed the double themselves four times, in the 2009, 2011, 2018 and 2019 seasons.

Unlike many in-state rivalries that have been played continuously for many decades, these two schools went through a long period from the 1930s to the 1980s of rarely facing one another. They did play frequently from the 1900s to the 1920s. Since the renewal of the men's basketball rivalry in 1983–84 UK leads the modern rivalry 28–13 and the all-time series 37–16. Since the two teams resumed playing football in 1994, Louisville leads the modern series 15–11 but the all-time series is led by UK at 17–15.

Within the intrastate rivalry with the Kentucky Wildcats, the team that has won the football game has lost the following basketball game every year, except in 2003, 2012, and 2025 (when Louisville won both) and 2009, 2011, 2018 and 2019 (when UK won both).

Cincinnati Bearcats

Known more for an intense basketball rivalry and tradition, Louisville and UC have a football rivalry that has stretched over the span of five conferences from the Missouri Valley Conference, to the Metro Conference to Conference USA, and the Big East Conference. In 2013 it was continued in the American Athletic Conference. It is believed to be the oldest rivalry for the Louisville football team and the second oldest for Cincinnati, only behind the annual game with the Miami RedHawks.

On the gridiron, the two teams compete for the Keg of Nails, currently held by Louisville as winner of the most recent game in the 2022 season. The Bearcats lead the overall series 30–22–1.

Other rivalries

Louisville also has dormant rivalries with University of Memphis Tigers, West Virginia University, and Marquette University, which have all been on hiatus.

Olympic representation

Louisville has produced 41 Summer Olympians and no WInter Olympians. Louisville-affiliated athletes have won a total of three gold medals.